Deep Roots and Healed Hearts
by Cookies and Ink
Summary: They fell in love slowly.


**A/N:** Written for Day 24 of August 2018's Romance Awareness. Prompt: You share talents with your soulmate.

Any other prompts and challenges are listed below so as not to give anything else away.

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 **Deep Roots and Healed Hearts**

She only noticed after her cuts healed themselves.

Cuts, pricks from rose thorns or bruises were common for Pomona to find as she went back to her quarters after a day in the Greenhouses, tending to her plants and teaching pupils. There were pulled muscles and strain from carrying dung, plant pots and then as she got older, there were aches, pains and ailments that appeared without any hint as to why.

She finished a day with a bandage on one forearm after being whipped by a particularly aggressive sentient vine. A colleague at the Ministry had sent it to her for Pomona Sprout was not only a Hogwarts Professor but also an expert in her field. She regularly had her free time filled with reviewing papers and helping other botanists. But then, when Pomona had unwrapped the bandages on her arm, there was only a patch of pink marked skin, like a cut that had been healed days ago.

It was curious and at first, she thought it was perhaps part of the vine's properties. Several other instances where she'd let herself be attacked by the vine but not once had her cuts healed again. Wincing, her cheeks red with embarrassment before she had even arrived, Pomona had headed towards the Hospital Wing. Poppy had smiled when she had walked through, her wand in her hand and Pomona hadn't even asked what had happened.

Pomona sat on the edge of the hospital wing bed she always perched on, her arm outstretched when her eyes had fallen upon a flowering purple orchid in a nook by a large window. She had given it to Poppy, almost tempted to put spells on the plant because her friend had quite the opposite of a green thumb. She and Pomona had become friends because Poppy had wanted to keep a garden focussed on potions ingredients she needed for her healing potions.

In the first spring, all of her seedlings and bulbs had died. Then Pomona had come and within months, had a flourishing part of Greenhouse Four dedicated to what her friend needed.

It took three years for them to realise.

There were instances where Pomona cast advanced healing spells on herself, that she hadn't even realised she'd known.

Poppy had several spider plants and then vines climbed up the tower, wrapping around the windows, perfuming the hospital wing with pungent blooms.

Soulmate bonds were old magic, a curious magic that neither of them knew very well. Pomona brought it up with Minerva once, who mentioned that there were books about it in the Library. Poppy had talked to Sinistra and then Horace but neither had known more than common legends and old wives tales.

They had never talked about it.

On her birthday, Pomona gifted Poppy a pot of rare golden lilies.

On the anniversary of the first day they'd met, Poppy kissed Pomona on the lips for the first time.

They fell in love, slowly and thought their day - to - day lives didn't change. But with each soft smile, and each shared heartbeat their love grew roots that spread deeper and healed hearts that had been scarred by pain and loneliness.

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 **A/N:**

Other prompts and competitions:

 **Disney Challenge** : C4. Write about someone overworked. Alternatively, write about someone grumpy.

 **Lyric Alley:** 24\. Yeah, that's what we've become

 **Em's Emporium:** 15\. (Trope) The Grandma friend.

 **Lo's Lowdown:** C8. trait: quirky

 **Bex's Bazaar:** F3. Write about someone communicating without speaking. Alternatively, write about one of the cats from canon.

 **Days of the Year:** Red Rose Day: Write about someone being gifted with red roses. Alternatively, write about someone being pricked by the thorn of a rose.

 **Shay's Musical Challenge:** 30\. Kismet - write about fate.

 **Chocolate Frog Cards:** (Silver): Pomona Sprout: Write about Pomona Sprout.

 **Snape Appreciation Challenge:** 11\. Skele-Gro – write about an injury


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